WASHINGTON
Obama takes Wisconsin for ninth consecutive win
Barack Obama cruised past a fading Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Wisconsin primary Tuesday night, gaining the upper hand in a Democratic presidential race for the ages.
It was Obama’s ninth straight victory over the past three weeks, and left the former first lady in desperate need of a comeback in a race she long commanded as front-runner.
“The change we seek is still months and miles away,” Obama told a boisterous crowd in Houston in a speech in which he also pledged to end the war in Iraq in his first year in office.
“I opposed this war in 2002. I will bring this war to an end in 2009,” he declared.
In a race growing increasingly negative, Obama cut deeply into Clinton’s political bedrock in Wisconsin, splitting the support of white women there almost evenly with her.
TOKYO
U.S. military imposes restrictions on Okinawa personnel
The U.S. military imposed tight restrictions on all personnel in Okinawa on Wednesday, limiting troops to bases, places or work or off-base housing, amid a furor over the arrest of Marine on suspicion of rape.
The restriction, which tightens a midnight curfew for enlisted on the southern Japanese island, started early Wednesday and was indefinite, the U.S. Forces Japan said in a statement.
The arrest last week of 38-year-old Staff Sgt. Tyrone Luther Hadnott in the alleged rape of a 14-year-old girl in Okinawa has sparked outrage in Japan, which hosts some 50,000 U.S. troops under a security treaty.
Hadnott admitted to investigators that he forced the girl down and kissed her, but said he did not rape her, police said.
LANSING
House says violent criminals should have to submit DNA
The Michigan House has voted to require anyone arrested for a violent crime in Michigan to submit a DNA sample.
State law already requires a DNA sample when someone is convicted of a felony or certain misdemeanors.
Backers say expanding the requirement to include arrested suspects gives police another tool to solve cold cases, prevent more crimes by catching repeat criminals earlier and absolve the innocent.
But critics say the legislation is an invasion of privacy for arrested people who should be presumed innocent.
FLINT, Mich.
Flint mayor: Chances of city getting Indian casino are 50-50
Mayor Don Williamson says Flint’s chances of getting an Indian casino are 50-50.
A House committee last week approved legislation that would advance two proposed Indian casinos in Romulus and Port Huron. But Williamson says Flint would be a better location than Romulus because it’s 70 miles from Detroit – and the Romulus casino’s opponents include U.S. Reps. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick and John Conyers, both Detroit Democrats.
The Flint Journal says an agreement signed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm and the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians allows the tribe to choose either city.
– Compiled from Daily wire reports